Electric soldering iron



Jan. 3, 1939, w L s 2,142,340

ELECTRIC SOLDERING IRON Filed Feb. 6, 1936 I N VEN TOR. Dir/.0 MA A 0M7! I v v I I III! M 1 f l t 4 BY m ATTORNEY.

Patented Jan. 3, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELECTRIC SOLDERING IRON David Williams, Binghamton, N. Y.

Application February 6, 1936, Serial No. 62 ,658

2 Claims. (01. 113-109) My invention relates to electric soldering irons the hollow extension 6 providing a portion of the and has for its principal object the provision of casing receiving and surrounding the heating a soldering iron in which the solder is fed in unit 3 whereby to bring such unit into close and wire form from a reel or the like to the soldering direct contact with the tip 5.

tip in such manner that the solder wire or ribbon The tip 5 is provided at its extreme pointed end 5 is maintained cool and out of contact with the with a passage 8 extending rearwardly a short heated portion of the iron and whereby only distance and communicating with an angular the extreme end portion of the wire is permitted passage 9 extending rearwardly and upwardly to enter the heated tip at which point it melts and opening into a recess ID, the inner walls of m and is delivered through a passage in the tip to which are threaded to receive a threaded hollow 1D the work point. thimble l l, the outer end of which is flared as at One of the principal disadvantages of electric 12 to receive the end of a screen guide member l3 soldering irons equipped with means for carrying secured at its opposite end to a hollow substana reel of wire solder for delivery to the point, has tially irusto-conical shaped guide l4 through 15 been the melting of too large an amount of the which the solder wire I5 is adapt d to D wire adjacent the tip with resultant clogging of t will be noted that the thimble ll extends for such tip or delivery passage, thus rendering the a substantial distance into the tip 5 where it is device ineffective for the purpose intended. By Subjected t0 the heat of the p and the heating my invention I have eliminated this difiiculty element 3. The outer end of thethimble,however,

and in addition to providing an efiective and p j s y f o e p f a Su a t a d s- 20 eificient soldering iron, I have made possible a ame Where i mm ni at with h op n considerable saving in the solder used. mesh guide member l3. By this means the end Another object of my invention lies in the proof the solder wire I5 passing through the wire vision of a novel guide means for the solder wire mesh guide I3 is maintained C001 a d un el ed from the reel to the soldering tip, such guide until it has entered the thimble H and passed 55 means being provided with cooling means to thereinto for a substantial distance where it is point directly adjacent the delivery point of suddenly subjected to the heat of the tip and melted solder. caused to melt. The melted solder runs down- A further object lies in the provision of a novel wardly through the recess I0 and into the comsupporting means on the soldering iron for the mimicating channel 9 and thence-to the delivery 30 guide by which the position thereof may be adchannel 8 at the point of the tip. This downward justed in accordance with the diameter of the reel a u d y Channel arrangement insures upon which the solder wire is coiled. the quick delivery of the molten solder to the end Other objects and advantages will be apparent of the tipas the description proceeds, reference being had A bracket I6 is suitably e e a u d the eas- 5 to the figures of the accompanying drawing forming 1 and adjustably mounted upon this bracket ing a part of this application and wherein like t as by h p and slot connection 11 is a nreference numerals indicate like parts. porting member Is, to which is suitably secured In the drawing: the guide member M. The adjustment of the Figure 1 is a side view of my improved solderbracket 18 and guide member I4 is to compensate ing iron, certain parts being broken away and for the varying diameter of the reel I9 of solder shown in section for clearness of illustration. Wire, suitably jeulhaled in a b et 0, he lower Figure 2 is a detail view partly in section taken ends of which are brought together as at 2|, and on the line 22 of Figure 1. suitably clamped around the casing l as by means The reference character I indicates generally a of the bolt 22, shown clearly in Figure 2. 45

soldering iron of the type to which my invention It will thus be seen that I have provided a is applicable and includes a handle 2 and an self-contained solder unit consisting of an elecelectric heating unit 3 carried within the hollow tric soldering iron, tip, solder wire support, guide casing of the iron. for the wire to the tip, and a cooling means,

0 The current for the heating unit may be supwhereby the wire is maintained in its solid state plied through a wire 4 passing through the holuntil it actually reaches a point within the tip low iron and through the handle 2 to any suitable at which it can be promptly delivered in molten source of supply. A soldering tip 5 provided with condition to the work point. Obviously the wire a hollow extension 6 is suitably secured to the end can be fed through the guide to the tip by simply of the iron I as by the threaded connection 1, turning the reel l9 as desired. 7

Of course, changes may be made by way of detail of construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. I do not limit myself, therefore, to the exact form herein shown and described other than by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A solder feeding means for a soldering iron comprising means for holding a reel of soldering wire on-said iron, means for-guiding-said wire to the tip of said iron, means including a portion of said guiding means adjacent said tip for permitting air to engage said wire and cool the same, said means comprising an open mesh screen tube through which said wire passes to said tip, said tip having a hollow passageway therethrough for said solder, and a thimble on said tip cornmlmi cating with said passageway and said screen tube. 2. A solder feeding means for a soldering iron comprising means for holding a reel of soldering through whichsaid wire passes to said tip, said tip having a hollow passageway therethrough for said solder, and a thimble on said tip communi- -cating with said passageway and said screen tube, said passageway having at least a portion thereof's loping downwardly from said thimble.

DAVID WILLIAMS. 

